The present invention relates to a drum type picture scanning recording apparatus such as color scanner for plate-making etc. in which a picture recording film is wound on a rotary drum to be scanned and exposed, particularly to a device for detachably attaching a film onto a rotary drum and removing it therefrom after scanning has been finished.
Conventionally, operation for attaching and/or removing a film to or recording from in a picture scanning recording apparatus has been manually carried out. This is accomplished by removing the cover of the apparatus under the illumination of a safety light to take a picture film from the case. One end of the picture film is inserted into a clip of the recording drum to be secured thereto. In the case of a drum of the vacuum absorbing type, the film is secured thereto by operating the vacuum source therefor. By rotating the drum at low speed, the picture film is wound onto the outer circumference of the drum. However, this process is troublesome and inefficient, and must be conducted with difficulty in a darkroom.
For the purpose of improving the afore-mentioned problems, for example, there is the Japanese Pat. Publication No. 52-42086 titled "An apparatus for automatically attaching and detaching a photofilm material". In the publication there is disclosed an apparatus in which a photosensitive film being accommodated in a particularly constructed cassette is fed to a recording drum to be applied thereto, and after having been exposed, the film is separated from the recording drum so that it may be accommodated into the cassette.
In the apparatus disclosed in the afore-mentioned publication, the photosensitive film can be automatically applied to and/or detached from the recording drum. However, only one sheet of film can be accommodated in the cassette. This creates a troublesome problem in that persons conducting this operation must bring a cassette into the darkroom, take out the exposed film from the cassette, and then load an unexposed film into the cassette. Of course, by preparing a plurality of cassettes, one of them can be used to be scanned and recorded, while the other exposed cassette films are replaced with unexposed ones. This alleviates the afore-mentioned problems to some extent. However, even under such circumstances, every sheet of film cassettes must be exchanged to load and/or remove the films. It is important that this operation be conducted as quickly as possible.
The above-described apparatus requires that rollers feed the film to the surface of the drum and the driving means therefor. This results in complexity of construction, high cost for the equipment, and invites maintenance difficulties.